"Composition for an Ensemble, or The Spirit of the Games," Clive Holden's free exhibition at the Canadian Cultural Centre

The Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris presents "Composition for an Ensemble, or The Spirit of the Games," an exhibition by Canadian filmmaker and digital artist Clive Holden. On view until September 7, 2024.

Clive Holden is interested in the representation of celebrity and fame, the conditioning of our gaze in relation to these types of images, and the gaze of his fellow photographers and filmmakers.

With its central projection specifically designed for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the exhibition consists of a digital, video, and photographic installation entitled " UNSUNG," as well as other works by the artist that provide conceptual context to the Canadian Cultural Centre's new commission. The artist worked from archival images related to past Olympic and Paralympic Games. Spectacular images of athletic movements and the dramatic potential of faces are staged, looped, mixed, and transformed to create visual rhymes.

Drawing on a musical analogy, the structure of UNSUNG is an organization of visual notes and chords in motion. The raw materials, i.e., archival photographs and film footage, when presented as is, are like musical notes. The musical chords, i.e., the juxtaposition of archival images, are made up of several "notes" played at the same time.

It is only recently that technology has made it possible to create such visual harmonies in motion live, i.e., visual segments played simultaneously in the same image, bringing visual art closer to music. With "UNSUNG," Clive Holden creates a work that plays images like silent notes and chords, in a process that is experienced in the present.

In Paris, where cinema was invented, "UNSUNG," the central work of "Composition for an Ensemble," can be perceived in several ways: a post-cinematic work; a kinetic sculpture; a painting in motion; or a live performance. Innovative and ambitious in spirit and form, this large moving image offers an experience that resonates with the athletic spirit and the spirit of the Games.